Luckless United held to draw

Luck was very definitely not on the side of Wairarapa United when they drew 1-1 with competition leaders Western Suburbs in their Capital Soccer division one men's match in Wellington on Saturday.
Wairarapa United dominated the game in terms of territory and possession and deserved more than the goal scored for them by And\rew Taylor in the second half just 30secs after Western Suburbs had gone out to a 1-0 advantage against the run of play.
The visitors had the mortification of watching a second half shot by Sakeo Valevou rebound off the fast post back into play despite hitting the post at an angle from which the ball could have been expected to finish in the back of the net.
"I would say that from that angle you would come up with a goal 99 times out of a 100," a frustrated Wairarapa United coach Phil Keinzley said."We still can't understand how it didn't happen for us"
Further frustrations came for Wairarapa United when they had two goals disallowed and there were at least two one on one confrontations when goals should have been scored but the opportunities weren't taken.
While loathe to blame the refereeing for any of his team's misfortunes Keinzley was moved to label the officiating as "interesting".
"I can say there were a lot of 50-50 calls which didn't go our way?.we seemed to be on the wrong end most of the time," he said.
Apart from his scoring effort Taylor was a standout player for Wairarapa United with his astute judgement both on attack and defence and both Robbie Bull and Paul Watkinson were grand value in the latter role.
Keinzley said the only disappointing feature of the match for Wairarapa United was that they drew when they deserved to win.
"Every player stepped up to the mark and you couldn't complain about the way the team performed," he said. "Sharing the points is better than losing but we deserved more, no one could argue that."
The draw means Wairarapa United still lie second behind Western Suburns on the points table and remain on track for at least a promotion-relegation game to decide whether they will be playing at premier division level in 2006.
But Keinzley hasn't conceded defeat for the division one title either.
He believes Western Suburbs have the more difficult draw of the two teams over the next few weeks and that if Wairarapa United can string wins together then they could still challenge for the championship.
"Winning is the key from now on??.we can't afford to drop any games from hereon in," he said.